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Backbreaker 2: Vengeance HD

American football for people who don’t like American football

As a game originally created to showcase NaturalMotion’s impressive animation tech, its lack of features and official NFL licence led to it being largely ignored upon release. Matching Madden if you’re out to make an American football game is a fool’s errand, it seems.

On the iPad, though, boiled down to a couple of gridiron-themed mini-games and with little more than that great animation and chasing high scores to keep you coming back, it kind of works.

Backbreaker 2 offers the chance to play from both sides. In one mode you attempt to score a touchdown, and in the other you try to stop the computer. Calling that American football is a bit like calling a penalty shoot-out a World Cup final, but this simplicity allows the game make to work on the touchscreen.

The first mode, Tackle Alley, starts you off with the ball in your end zone. As you progress, the opposition gets increasingly formidable.

Although it’s never too difficult to reach the other end, getting into the upper echelons of the leaderboards requires you to take full advantage of scoring opportunities.

The new addition to the series is the Vengeance mode, which puts you into the role of a defender. As above, it starts as a simple one-on-one, but moving through the levels will pit you against waves of blockers who try to guard the ball carrier. It’s not as much fun as attacking yourself, but it’s a worthwhile addition and a nice change.

Too simple for simulation fans, but as the gridiron equivalent of Flick Kick Football, it’s worth a look